back in the late summer of 2001 i had chance to chat briefly with mike breske, then our football defensive coordinator. we'd come off a great recruiting year and i was wondering how many of the incoming defensive studs--johnny varona and blake horgan among others--would be playing as freshmen that year. "none of 'em," said breske, curtly. "don't need any of 'em." of course, all we did that year was win our second national championship. true to his word, not a single true freshman played on the defensive side of the ball that year.
flash forward to basketball 2008. we're coming off what appears to be a stellar class of freshmen recruits--stockton, digs, ward--and the temptation is to ask once again, "how many of them will play as true freshmen?" here's hoping tinks's answer is the same as breske's: "none of 'em!"
two reasons.
first, assuming everybody returns, we go eleven deep with hurley still a walk on, and we're two deep at every position, assuming taylor can play the point. i question whether we really need more help this year.
but, second, even assuming one of the three recruits is able to step in and play better than somebody else, is that additional talent going to be significant to the overall improvement of the team? and will not this year's recruit be that much better in four years?
i really like tinks's recruits, and i like that he's brought the player talent back to the level where we can put a championship team on the floor while saving our freshmen for the future. please, please, please--not another heidelberger-swift-qvale debacle. i'll be lurking.
flash forward to basketball 2008. we're coming off what appears to be a stellar class of freshmen recruits--stockton, digs, ward--and the temptation is to ask once again, "how many of them will play as true freshmen?" here's hoping tinks's answer is the same as breske's: "none of 'em!"
two reasons.
first, assuming everybody returns, we go eleven deep with hurley still a walk on, and we're two deep at every position, assuming taylor can play the point. i question whether we really need more help this year.
but, second, even assuming one of the three recruits is able to step in and play better than somebody else, is that additional talent going to be significant to the overall improvement of the team? and will not this year's recruit be that much better in four years?
i really like tinks's recruits, and i like that he's brought the player talent back to the level where we can put a championship team on the floor while saving our freshmen for the future. please, please, please--not another heidelberger-swift-qvale debacle. i'll be lurking.
